Lackawanna Trail teacher admits to assault

A suspended Lackawanna Trail High School English teacher pleaded guilty Friday to simple assault and criminal trespass in connection with an encounter he had 14 months ago with a 27-year-old woman.

Michael William Petherick, 38, Shickshinny, faces up to three years in prison and a $7,500 fine, Wyoming County President Judge Russell Shurtleff said.

According to court documents, Tunkhannock Twp. police responded to a domestic disturbance at Marly Scott’s Falls Twp. residence on May 19, 2013. She called the Wyoming County Communications Center and complained her boyfriend hit her and she was bleeding from her eye and ear.

When initially questioned, Ms. Scott said that her boyfriend “did not do this to her” but she fell and he was trying to help her.

As police initially tried to sort out the evidence, simple assault charges were leveled against both parties.

But they later were dropped against the victim, who testified at Mr. Petherick’s preliminary hearing that she had been treated at a local hospital for a shattered orbital socket around her eye and displaced nose and cheekbone.

The judge had earlier asked Mr. Petherick where he was employed.

He identified a local steakhouse, but his attorney Kurt Lynott clarified that Mr. Petherick also had been employed by the Lackawanna Trail School District before the incident, and an action was pending with the district to regain his employment there.

■ Ramona E. Tyler, 50, Tunkhannock, disorderly conduct on May 23; disorderly conduct on June 13; and public drunkenness on June 13.

■ James Robert Walsh, 19, Montrose, criminal trespass on Dec. 1.

Contact the writer:

bbaker@wcexaminer.com

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